Jury selection began Monday in the federal trial of Ryan Routh, the Florida-area man charged with attempting to assassinate former President Donald Trump while he played golf last year.
U.S. District Court in Fort Pierce has blocked off four weeks for the proceedings, though attorneys said they expect the trial to take less time. Courtroom events scheduled for the week include a three-day jury selection process in which the parties will question three sets of 60 prospective jurors to find 12 jurors and four alternates. Opening statements are scheduled for Thursday, after which prosecutors will begin presenting their case.
Routh, 59, has pleaded not guilty to federal charges that include attempting to assassinate a major presidential candidate, assaulting a federal officer and multiple firearms violations. The charges stem from an incident prosecutors say occurred Sept. 15, 2024, when Routh aimed a rifle through shrubbery as Trump played golf at a country club in West Palm Beach. A U.S. Secret Service agent spotted Routh before Trump came into view; prosecutors say the agent fired, the suspect dropped his weapon and fled without firing a shot.
Last week, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon confirmed she granted Routh’s July request to represent himself at trial but ordered that court-appointed attorneys remain as standby counsel. Cannon told Routh he must wear professional business attire and may use a podium when addressing the jury or questioning witnesses, but he will not have unfettered movement in the courtroom.
Prosecutors have provided a 33-page list of exhibits that could be introduced at trial, which was unsealed last week. The list includes photographs that prosecutors say show Routh holding the same model of semi-automatic rifle found at the country club. Authorities have described a witness who reported seeing a person fleeing the scene and was later flown by police helicopter to a nearby interstate, where Routh was arrested and identified by the witness.
Federal authorities and state prosecutors have both charged Routh. In state court he has pleaded not guilty to counts that include terrorism and attempted murder. If convicted on the federal counts, Routh faces serious penalties under statutes that address threats against people protected by federal law and the attempt on a presidential candidate.
Prosecutors have portrayed Routh as having methodically plotted to kill Trump for weeks. Court filings and witness accounts cited by authorities describe Routh as a former North Carolina construction worker who had moved to Hawaii in recent years and cultivated a reputation as a self-styled mercenary leader. Witnesses told The Associated Press that Routh spoke openly about plans to insert himself into foreign conflicts, and during the early days of the war in Ukraine he tried to recruit fighters from places including Afghanistan, Moldova and Taiwan.
Routh has a prior criminal history that figures into the case’s background. In 2002 in Greensboro, North Carolina, he was arrested after eluding a traffic stop and barricading himself with a fully automatic machine gun and what authorities then called a “weapon of mass destruction,” later described as an explosive device. In 2010 police executing a search of a warehouse he owned recovered more than 100 stolen items, including power tools and recreational equipment. Judges in those prior felony cases imposed probation or suspended sentences.
The trial comes nearly a year after the alleged West Palm Beach attack and about nine weeks after a separate, unrelated shooting at a Trump campaign event in Pennsylvania in which a gunman fired multiple shots and a bullet grazed the former president’s ear before the attacker was stopped by a Secret Service counter-sniper. The two incidents have intensified scrutiny of security for high-profile political figures and the handling of threats against them, but the current proceedings will focus on the facts and legal questions in Routh’s case.
Courtroom procedures in Fort Pierce this week will include the standard voir dire questioning by both the government and the defense; attorneys have been allotted time to assess potential jurors’ ability to be fair and impartial. Routh’s decision to represent himself is likely to shape parts of the trial, though federal defenders will remain ready to assist as standby counsel.
As jury selection proceeds, prosecutors and defense attorneys will present witnesses, exhibits and legal arguments to the panel. The outcome of the trial will hinge on testimony and forensic evidence that prosecutors have said link Routh to the rifle at the country club and to a pattern of planning the attack. Both sides are expected to call witnesses and introduce documentary and physical evidence during the weeks of trial reserved by the court.